"Building Blocks"First Place Win at NVPS Geometry themed competition, December 18, 2018! ​I have to thank our Virginia Ice Theatre team for taking us to the 2018 Theatre on Ice Nationals Competition in Geneva, IL this year. That trip gave me the opportunity to tour Chicago with great friends and to get this shot!

Wait, that's not the title of the song I'm thinking of... well no matter! Recently, I had the opportunity to photograph the N family and they have 10 & 13 year old boys! Even though it was cold, they were great sports while we got some great images for them! Coat off and coats on! (These are not all of the images from the session but some of my favs!) If it is cold out I try to keep my clients on the move in between shots to help keep them a bit warmer. In the end, it's clear the boys just wanted to have fun! :-)

We've used Julie for several years and have always been pleased with the collection of photos! Easy to book with, quick turnaround time and she's great at directing even the most moody teenager. We'll definitely use her services again! D. H., Mom of M.

What a great model M. has been for 4 years now! She is really growing up! These images are of her smiling. On this last photo session her mom informed her that not every image has to look like a serious album cover! (That comment made me laugh and think of my own same aged daughter who has adopted the serious look too!) If you check out my other posts or look around my website you'll see lots of great not smiling photos of M! I love a serious photo actually and usually end posting them! For more information on the history of smiling in photos here is a short video "Ask Smithsonian: Why Don’t People Smile in Old Photographs?" Here is the Link: (copy/paste)https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/ask-smithsonian/ask-smithsonian-why-dont-people-smile-in-o/Smiling or not... I'm already looking forward to next year! ~ Julie

All kids grow up too fast! But one group is not usually photographed as much, tweens! Where are all of the photos them? Babies are so cute, new and chubby. Toddlers have those big, bright eyes and lets face it, they just do the darndest things. But those tween ages are often forgotten. At age 10-13, kids aren’t children anymore, but aren’t quite teens.” “Do you remember being a tween? I sure do. I was the twig who always thought she was fat. I was constantly self-conscious about what I was wearing and what I was saying.” “Now imagine the impact a single beautiful image could have done for you when you were that age.To be able to look at a photo and not see too fat, too skinny, too many freckles, too short of hair, but to just see yourself as beautiful.” Contact about my tween sessions!

I captured this beautiful image of a dancer and then digitally painted the image to change the backdrop to my liking and also to give the appearance of a painting. An exercise in creativity that paid off! (Original image taken at a creative tutorial hosted by Terry Wingfield.)